JIM’S INSIGHTS

Futurist Jim Carroll has quickly become recognized as your ‘go-to source’ for effective insight on what comes next, the strategies that you consider, and the leadership path you need to follow.

TRENDS INSIGHTS

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You!

The Speaking Industry … Into 2026…!

The speaking industry is changing. FAST! This month, I filmed a 10-minute video on what you need to know about how to accelerate into opportunity in this crazy industry. The key thing? The agent and speaker role is changing. The industry itself? It’s wild, with: a flood of new speakers massive economic volatility significant budget […]

Decoding Tomorrow: Mastering 2026 – #10: “Don’t protect your knowledge; connect it.” – Futurist Jim Carroll

“Don’t protect your knowledge; connect it.” – Futurist Jim Carroll “If I have an idea and you have an idea, we have two ideas. If we share those ideas, we have a movement!” That’s what I wrote some years ago here in my Daily Inspiration, in a post talking about the power of collaborative insight. In […]

Decoding Tomorrow: Mastering 2026 – #9: “Know this: if your goals feel ‘realistic,’ you are thinking too small.”

“Know this: if your goals feel ‘realistic,’ you are thinking too small.” – Futurist Jim Carroll We are on Day 9. You’ve committed to the pivot (Day 7), and you are increasing your execution velocity (Day 8). You are moving faster. But are you aiming high enough? In an exponential world, you can’t just think […]

Decoding Tomorrow: Mastering 2026 – #8 “The greatest risk today isn’t the speed of change: it’s your failure to pick up your pace.”

“The greatest risk today isn’t the speed of change: it’s your failure to pick up your pace.” – Futurist Jim Carroll We are on Day 8. You’ve committed to the pivot (Day 7). Now, you have to run. That’s why the principle you need to align to is “Velocity Alignment.” What is it? Matching your […]

Decoding Tomorrow: Mastering 2026 – #6 “Make more ‘better’ mistakes!”

“Make more ‘better’ mistakes!” – Futurist Jim Carroll In 2026, your new ROI should be ROF – “Return on Failure” We are on Day 6. We’ve reset your clock, cleared the path, built your courage, turned on your radar, and accelerated your learning. Now, we need to completely rewire your relationship with failure. Why? Because, […]

Decoding Tomorrow: Mastering 2026 – #5 “Learn faster than knowledge appears. It’s your only sustainable advantage.”

“Learn faster than knowledge appears. It’s your only sustainable advantage.” – Futurist Jim Carroll Futurist Jim Carroll is writing his end-of-2025 / introduction-to-2026 series, 26 Principles for 2026. You can follow along at 2026.jimcarroll.com. He welcomes your comments. We are three days into resetting your mindset for 2026. Day 5? It’s all about learning velocity, […]

Decoding Tomorrow: Mastering 2026 – #4 “Know that the future whispers before it shouts. Listen now.”

“Know that the future whispers before it shouts. Listen now.” – Futurist Jim Carroll Futurist Jim Carroll is writing his end-of-2025 / introduction-to-2026 series, 26 Principles for 2026. You can follow along at 2026.jimcarroll.com. He welcomes your comments. We are three days into resetting your mindset for 2026. You understand the speed of change (Temporal […]

Decoding Tomorrow: Mastering 2026 – #3 Ambiguity Tolerance: “Don’t try to be certain, be decisive.”

“Don’t try to be certain, be decisive.” – Futurist Jim Carroll If Day 1 was about seeing the speed of the future, and Day 2 was about clearing the path, Day 3 is about finding the courage to walk it. Particularly when you don’t know what the hell is going on. Welcome to 2026! Here’s […]

Decoding Tomorrow: Daily Inspiration: “Our new reality? Irrational certainty now undermines almost every rational trend!”

“Our new reality? Irrational certainty now undermines almost every rational trend!” – Futurist Jim Carroll So, how do you take on the unique times in which we find ourselves? How do you carefully take on what is still, weirdly, a significant future trend that could, to some, be controversial? Carefully! How do you approach a […]

Decoding Tomorrow: Daily Inspiration – “I’m a futurist. You don’t have to like me. But you do have to listen to me.”

“I’m a futurist. You don’t have to like me. But you do have to listen to me.” – Futurist Jim Carroll The interesting thing is that, being a speaker for 30+ years, you often find yourself speaking in the same conference and event centres where you’ve spoken before. Such is the case with Tucson today, […]

Decoding Tomorrow: Daily Inspiration – Manufacturing: “Shift your focus from managing the known to mastering the next.” –

“Shift your focus from managing the known to mastering the next.” – Futurist Jim Carroll After all, today’s comfort is tomorrow’s vulnerability! A session description just went out for my upcoming keynote for BIFMA. Who’s that? The Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturing Association! Here’s what I’ll be covering: Harnessing Technology for Unprecedented Growth The complex […]

Decoding Tomorrow: Daily Inspiration – Personal Growth: “The gap between ambition and capability is an invitation to grow, not a limitation.”

“The gap between ambition and capability is an invitation to grow, not a limitation.” – Futurist Jim Carroll Someone asked me how you can keep up when things are changing so fast; how you can grow when there is so much to master; how you can succeed when the challenges can seem so big. You […]

Decoding Tomorrow: Daily Inspiration – Leadership: “The toughest job for a leader today is finding the strategy within the hype!

“The toughest job for a leader today is finding the strategy within the hype!” – Futurist Jim Carroll Let’s talk about what CEOs are thinking about! What got me thinking about this? One year ago yesterday, I keynoted a pretty exclusive group in New York City – 500 handpicked CEOs from around the world who […]

Decoding Tomorrow: The Way Forward: Summary – “The way forward is not to wait for tomorrow, but to create it today.”

“The way forward is not to wait for tomorrow, but to create it today.” – Futurist Jim Carroll In 2025, the headwinds are severe, and the path forward seems shrouded in fog. We’re living through one of the most volatile and unpredictable periods in recent memory. With that being the case, Jim wrote new series, […]

Decoding Tomorrow: Daily Inspiration – “Leadership in 2025: Mastering the contradiction between knowing what’s essential and eliminating it.”

“Leadership in 2025: Mastering the contradiction between knowing what’s essential and eliminating it.” – Futurist Jim Carroll If anything is real in 2025, it is the fact that organizations have mastered the art of saying one thing and doing another – often with a pretty negative intent. No wonder people are jaded, confused, wound up, […]

Decoding Tomorrow: The Future of Work – “The future is not won simply by knowing what comes next, but by how fast you can deploy a team to meet the challenge!”

“The future is not won simply by knowing what comes next, but by how fast you can deploy a team to meet the challenge!” – Futurist Jim Carroll A client approached me for a keynote that went into the topic of the future of work. He didn’t want the typical focus found with the topic, […]

Decoding Tomorrow: The Way Forward: #9 Auto & Transportation – “A decade from now, the automotive landscape will be dominated by companies that treated 2025’s reality check not as a crisis, but as the greatest competitive opportunity they ever witnessed!”

“A decade from now, the automotive landscape will be dominated by companies that treated 2025’s reality check not as a crisis, but as the greatest competitive opportunity they ever witnessed!” – Futurist Jim Carroll In 2025, the headwinds are severe, and the path forward seems shrouded in fog. We’re living through one of the most […]

Decoding Tomorrow: The Way Forward: #8 Banking & Financial Services – “For centuries, finance was defined by stability and caution. For the next decade, it will be defined by velocity and agility. The slow will not survive.”

“For centuries, finance was defined by stability and caution. For the next decade, it will be defined by velocity and agility. The slow will not survive.“ – Futurist Jim Carroll In 2025, the headwinds are severe, and the path forward seems shrouded in fog. We’re living through one of the most volatile and unpredictable periods in […]

Decoding Tomorrow: The Way Forward: #7 Retail – “Retail success is no longer about moving boxes from a warehouse to a shelf. It’s about moving an experience from a brand story into a customer’s life.”

“Retail success is no longer about moving boxes from a warehouse to a shelf. It’s about moving an experience from a brand story into a customer’s life.“ – Futurist Jim Carroll In 2025, the headwinds are severe, and the path forward seems shrouded in fog. We’re living through one of the most volatile and unpredictable periods […]

Decoding Tomorrow: The Way Forward: #6 Insurance – “The future of insurance will be written by those who move from predicting the past to architecting the future, transforming risk from a liability to be avoided into an asset to be managed.”

“The future of insurance will be written by those who move from predicting the past to architecting the future, transforming risk from a liability to be avoided into an asset to be managed.” – Futurist Jim Carroll In 2025, the headwinds are severe, and the path forward seems shrouded in fog. We’re living through one of […]

Decoding Tomorrow: The Way Forward: #5 Construction: “For centuries, construction was about brute force. The next century will be about intelligence—smart materials, robotic precision, and data-driven design.”

“For centuries, construction was about brute force. The next century will be about intelligence—smart materials, robotic precision, and data-driven design.” – Futurist Jim Carroll In 2025, the headwinds are severe, and the path forward seems shrouded in fog. We’re living through one of the most volatile and unpredictable periods in recent memory. With that being […]

Decoding Tomorrow: The Way Forward: #4 Healthcare: “Yesterday’s medical breakthrough was a new drug. Tomorrow’s breakthrough is the intelligent algorithm that designs the drug, the connected device that delivers it, and the data stream that confirms it worked.”

“Yesterday’s medical breakthrough was a new drug. Tomorrow’s breakthrough is the intelligent algorithm that designs the drug, the connected device that delivers it, and the data stream that confirms it worked.”– Futurist Jim Carroll In 2025, the headwinds are severe, and the path forward seems shrouded in fog. We’re living through one of the most […]

Decoding Tomorrow: The Way Forward: #3 Energy: “”The power plant of the past was a smokestack on the horizon. The power plant of the future is the solar panel on your roof, the battery in your garage, and the intelligent software that connects them all.”

“The power plant of the past was a smokestack on the horizon. The power plant of the future is the solar panel on your roof, the battery in your garage, and the intelligent software that connects them all.” – Futurist Jim Carroll In 2025, the headwinds are severe, and the path forward seems shrouded in […]

Decoding Tomorrow: The Way Forward: #2 Agriculture- The farmer of the future is part biologist, part data scientist, and part roboticist—but is still 100% an optimist who plants a seed and believes in tomorrow.”

“The farmer of the future is part biologist, part data scientist, and part roboticist—but is still 100% an optimist who plants a seed and believes in tomorrow.” – Futurist Jim Carroll In 2025, the headwinds are severe, and the path forward seems shrouded in fog. We’re living through one of the most volatile and unpredictable […]